• zephorah@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Sounds like he had bags filled with ceramic tile over his hidey hole and bolted to a vehicle. A bystander photo-d the plate and gave it to law enforcement. And then he just sort of hands in the air surrendered himself when they caught up. No conspiracy theory yet, from me, I’m going to give it a bit, see what info shakes out.

      His vids make him sound like a Libertarian who voted for Trump the first time because he thought it meant real change, for democracy draining the swamp and all the other stuff, and now he wanted to shoot trump because he felt it was the only way to defend democracy. Yes, the phrasing matches the Harris campaign.

      It’s a bizarre rabbit hole. He has a lot of social media vids. And he’s always wearing some kind of flag print in his vids, even if it’s just his blue and white hair in combo with his red face. Went to Ukraine. And some weird stuff with Afghanistan. I stopped watching because, ick. Consumption of that guys media is unpleasant.

      I think this is the other side of the nationalism push. You don’t just get a community that likes to wave flags, like evangelicals waving their arms at a tent revival. You also get the Jan 6 crowd. And you also get these two shooters and whomever else from that fully over the cliff segment is sitting in a basement, planning some other horrific bit of violence, right now. You probably can’t separate out all 3, it’s all or nothing. And something trump himself started fomenting in 2016. Years of anxiety and angst feeding on itself, which yes, won him 2016, but now? Where’s it going and does he have any real grip on it anymore?

      Scary. And likely not the end of it from this crowd.

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        David Aronberg, State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, said the suspect said nothing as he was detained.

        “He knew enough to stay silent,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday evening. “He did not apparently speak to officers, he was calm. So, it looked like a person who has done this before, not necessarily this crime, but someone who has had repeated interactions with law enforcement.”

        Person: says nothing

        Florida DA: Obviously they’re guilty of several career-long crimes

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Based on his behavior I would guess that he has bipolar disorder. Moving to Hawaii, going to Ukraine, all this other erratic behavior in the past, all sounds like mania. This was probably a manifestation of delusions of grandeur. If he wrote out an explanation beforehand it will probably be complete nonsense to us that made complete sense to him at the time. If he didn’t give an explanation beforehand, it will probably be impossible for him to explain his reasoning after the fact.

    • SirDerpy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      No we ask how is he still alive. At that range if they meant to kill him he should be dead.

      No. And, I’m disappointed so many blindly believed.

      The initial information was 200-300 yards. A good shooter with range ammo (medium quality) and a decent rifle will shoot about 2 MOA or “minutes of angle” accuracy. A better shooter with better ammo and rifle will shoot about 1.5 MOA.

      The math conveniently works out such that 1 MOA is 1 inch at 100 yards. At 1 MOA and 100 yards range, the distance from the furthest spaced rounds in a small number of rounds will be 1 inch.

      At 300 yards 1.5 MOA is 4.5 inches. At 200 yards it’s 3 inches. At 300 it’d take three shots to be sure. At 200 it’s a likely one shot kill.

      The news of 200-300 yards was intentional uncertainty. We sheep aren’t to know the actual risk to Trump’s life.

  • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Ring-winger gun-nuts: the 2nd amendment is meant to keep us protected from a tyrannical government!!!

    This is the second attempt on the life of your wannabe god-emperor…are things starting to click into place yet or are you ready to admit it was never about “rights” and “freedoms” you just really like having guns

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I mean if they were serious about guns being used to make sure the tyrants and would be tyrants are always in fear of an assassin’s bullet then what has been happening lately is EXACTLY what the 2nd amendment is intended for… and they are pissed because they are a bunch of wanna-be brownshirts who want to be the armed militia of the tyrant and kill his enemies without fear of prosecution. They just want to do it with their own personal weapons.

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Tbf they actually view the other side as the tyrannical one and think their side is the savior, it isn’t actually that hard to understand their feelings on that one.

        Not saying that they’re right, just that this is the explanation for this oft cited “disconnect.” Basically just “nobody thinks they’re the bad guy.”

    • cogman@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I sort of wonder how much longer 2A idiocy will last in the US. The NRA has gone bankrupt and since they aren’t able to funnel Russian money to politicians like they used to be able to, their influence is basically zero at this point.

      With them out of the picture, there’s really not a powerful gun lobby getting right wing media to talk about Democrats as gun grabbers.

      If you peruse conservative spaces like I do, you’ll notice that talking point has evaporated.

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The 2nd Amendment will likely be in place long after all of us are dead, because it is a right that the majority of Americans support, and because amending the Constitution is required to change it, and because amending the Constitution is very difficult.

        Constitutional amendments require a 2/3 majority vote of both houses of Congress to pass (initially) then must also pass ratification by 3/4 of state legislatures. Only takes 13 red states to vote NO to block it. All of the red states are going to vote against it, every time, because the right to bear arms is an inherent right that we will never give up.

        • cogman@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          2A absolutism is a recent invention in modern politics started by the NRA. Restrictions on guns and gun ownership have been in the law books since pretty close to the founding.

          There are already restrictions on who can own guns and what guns can be purchased by the public.

          When I say 2A insanity, I’m talking about Republicans blocking all common sense gun legislation. I don’t think that will stay forever. I don’t believe a repeal of 2A needs to happen to make things significantly better. You could, for example, make it illegal to sell/own guns under 30. You could ban magazines. You could limit the caliber of bullets sold. You could make gun manufacturers civilly liable for the advertisements they put out.

          Before even addressing if 2A is a good amendment (it isn’t) we can do all this

          • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 months ago

            You could, for example, make it illegal to sell/own guns under 30.

            When do people become adults? I think if we’re doing shit like this we also have to raise the age of adulthood to (in this case 30). Meaning no military until 30, no smoking/vaping/drinking until 30, on your parent’s insurance, they can’t kick you out until then, can’t be tried as an adult, age of consent, etc, and frankly we likely shouldn’t trust kids with other deadly instruments such as cars until then either, they’re clearly causing problems with those too considering the numbers on car accidents.

            Frankly there is some scientific basis for all this, being that our brains don’t stop developing until 25, but this half-adult stage where all of the negatives but none of the benefits apply is ridiculous to me. Fwiw I have this exact same argument about raising the smoking age, etc, it’s not just guns, but talk of raising the age makes them relevant to that opinion for me. I’m not even necesarily against it, but for me personally to be on board it has to be bigger than “no guns til 30 just because.” Besides, people 18-29, especially women, have a very good reason to have tools with which to defend themselves, and I personally think it’d be a shame to deny say a woman who is escaping an abusive ex those tools, especially considering often women date slightly older men meaning he may be able to get them while she can’t, if she’s 25ish and he’s 30+.

            You could ban magazines

            Not really. You could ban detachable magazines, which is 99% of guns made after 1910, but that won’t fly here because duh, you could ban detachable magazines over 10rnds, but that is entirely ineffective as it’s defeated by “carrying another magazine or two,” and reloading takes less than 2sec literally (way less if you train it which you can do in your room while watching TV.) That also includes almost every 9mm pistol in the country btw, which mostly have 14-17rnds standard, magazines aren’t only in AKs and ARs.

            You could limit the caliber of bullets sold.

            I mean, in theory maybe that is legally possible? Maybe? But even still the venn diagram of “the deadliest calibre” and “the smallest calibre” is actually just a circle containing the word “.22lr” This is mostly due to quantity (availability/price), of course, but at any rate it illustrates that limiting calibre wouldn’t do much since even the smallest calibre commonly available can kill with ease. On top of that the .223 rnd commonly used by mass shooters for example is .003" bigger in diameter than a .22lr, about 25gr heavier of a bullet, but with more powder making it carry about as much kinetic energy as a hot .357 rnd, they don’t usw “high powered” rounds like the .50bmg or .338 lapua already, .223 is one of the weakest rifle rounds commonly used for self defense or hunting coyotes.

            You could make gun manufacturers civilly liable for the advertisements they put out.

            Where are you guys seeing gun ads, like, in Guns & Ammo magazine or something? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one but I hear about them with the whole Daniel Defense scandal. At any rate, they already would be to a degree, like Juul was, that would apply to guns too if it is proven to target kids or something. But there would be a court case to determine culpability which they could win, that’s just the way our system works really. Seems easy enough to just not buy those magazines for your kids or whatever. Do they even still have print magazines?

            I’m not opposed to something that would actually work and couldn’t be abused by some racist sheriff or governor to deny guns to POC et al. But most of the proposed legislation I’ve seen falls short of one or both of those (personal) requirements. Most things will be used to further burden marginalized populations in overpoliced neighborhoods just like drug prohibition is, it won’t affect the people in gated communities at all.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The NRA is bankrupt and has no influence? I hadn’t heard about that.

        I do notice now that they are charging school shooters parents as well as the kid, maybe that will get people to start thinking about this differently. Maybe.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Throw in Trump has stated to take people’s guns without due process, and Pence had to talk him out of it to ensure the 2A voters wouldn’t turn against him, now apparently he wants to do outdoor events behind shields of some sort… I can imagine it will be long before MAGA followers agree it is to dangerous to have people buying guns without proper background checks… Which would have likely prevented this person from owning an AK, as he has previous weapons charges.

    • Glytch@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Men like Donald Trump are the conservative argument in favor of guns. He’s exactly the type of authoritarian the 2nd ammendment was meant to combat.

  • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I wish there was some PAC that advocated for children instead of for firearms. Seems to me a lot more people have kids they love than arsenals.

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    2 months ago

    People have handguns on their hips in grocery stores. And you don’t know where the concealed carry is (most don’t) because it’s…you know…concealed.

    Kahr made concealed carry its advertise/sell point and doesn’t hit the bar for most clip capacity restrictions, so it’s pretty available.

    Ok, this is a large, not concealed gun. But my point is, many Americans have guns and carry them, both concealed and otherwise, even while grocery shopping with their families.

    How is this walking around with a gun thing a question? It’s been even more normalized the last 10yrs than ever before since the Wild West times ended.

    What’s more interesting is this is shooter #2 who was once a trump supporter and then, quite dramatically, changed his mind. This deserves some analysis. We’re getting almost no analysis on the first guy.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      People have handguns on their hips in grocery stores.

      Yeah, definitely not in my state.

      No wonder these psychopaths never feel safe. Literally everyone down there is fucking armed.

      • ralakus@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t think it’s the fact that they’re armed that makes them not feel safe. It’s the constant fear propaganda they’re fed via Fox News, Facebook, Twitter, and other right wing “news” sources. The alt right propaganda machines scare these people into thinking that everyone and everything is out to get them so they go out and buy a gun. In more civilized progressive areas, people aren’t exposed to alt right fear mongering as much and if they are, their community disproves and supports them so they don’t fall down the “I must arm myself to kill anyone who might harm me” rabbit hole.

        • limelight79@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Can confirm - I have an RV and whenever guns comes up in the online groups, it is clear that these people are absolutely CERTAIN they will be attacked. No “if”, it’s “when”.

          I assume these are the same people that end up murdering someone who knocked on the door of a house they thought was a friend’s place, but were mistaken, or needed help in the middle of the night, stuff like that.

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Hey, I’m only telling you what I’m seeing when I go outside. Seems more common than 10yrs ago too.

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      Open carry is a really dumb idea. If a crook who wanted to steal someone’s gun they can easily ambush the carrier to snatch it and escape. The job would be easier if they were working as a gang. Also if a mass shooter does come by and has half a brain cell, they’ll scan the area for anyone openly carrying and take them out first before starting their shooting. You’d have to be REALLY paranoid when open carrying to prevent that kind of thing from happening, and 99.99% of the time you’ll end up pulling a gun on an innocent person and get into some serious legal trouble for it.

      What’s more interesting is this is shooter #2 who was once a trump supporter and then, quite dramatically, changed his mind. This deserves some analysis. We’re getting almost no analysis on the first guy.

      We don’t have much information on the first guy because there wasn’t much info to be had. The best way I can analyze his behavior based on what was released to the public is ‘hmmm, I want to kill a politician and it’s going to be… let me think? Who is the closest and most convenient for me to get to right now? Oh yes, Trump is having a rally. So Trump it is!’

      There is no evidence that he had any thing against Trump personally or politically. He just wanted to kill a politician. If Trump wasn’t doing a rally there, but the mayor of the town was going to make a speech or presentation at that very spot, then the mayor would have been the target. Crooks just wanted to kill a politician, and wasn’t too picky about which politician that was.

      Also he apparently planned a whole spree of shootings right after. Not thinking that trying to kill an ex-president is going to make escape practically impossible. I don’t think he even realized there would be Secret Service snipers on the roof tops, and one already had him in his sights before he started shooting, thus making any escape attempt impossible.

    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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      People complain that these types of rifles count as conceal carry when it comes to bans because you can get a folding stock and keep it in a backpack on you or in your car. IMO, it defeats the purpose of concealed carry if it’s not immediately available. At that point you’re just transporting it.

    • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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      Meeeh, leave the guns be. It’s people who kill people, not guns - give man a knife and you got stabbed! Please ignore the fact that it’s a lot easier to shoot someone than stab someone and thus even cowards can stab people at distance.

      Let’s just give USA a little bit more time. At some point one of the parties will score big win, and the other side will finally rally aaaand VIVA LA REVOLU- why is everyone dead?

  • kibiz0r@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    Guns don’t kill people. Gunmen kill people.

    Now, you might ask: How do men become gunmen?

    They’re born a man, and then one day they just decide to identify as a gunman? Makes no sense.

    It’s those gun groomers. Corrupting your kid’s mind.

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think Trump and the secret service keeps getting lucky that his assailants are idiots regarding their weapon choice. This guy was 300-500 yards away and had an AK.

    An AK is a 4-5 MOA rifle at best, so even with perfect optics, a perfect shooter, no wind, and a steady position, you’re looking at a precision of 2 feet at 500 yards, and that’s ignoring that precision gets progressively worse at range.

    At 500 yards, a 7.62x39 round has gone subsonic, lost 80% of its muzzle energy, and dropped 30 feet.

    Anything under 1000 ft/lbs of torque force isn’t considered powerful enough to ethically hunt a whitetail deer. At 500 yards, a 7.62x39 has less than a third of that energy. It’s enough to be lethal, but not consistently.

    And all that is the starting point for the first shot. It gets worse firing semi-auto.

      • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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        The cool part is that the two “would be” assassins were probably not at all related to each other and acted completely independently.

        I wouldn’t be out there golfing in open air if I was the orange stain bag. I would go find me a nice moldy hole to hide into with my friend putin so I can watch when they drag putin out first lol.